Name composition assistance in messaging applications

Abstract

A method includes identifying, at an electronic device a candidate name responsive to user input indicating a salutational trigger during composition of a body of a message of a messaging application. Identifying the candidate name including at least one of: parsing a recipient-specific portion of a recipient message address of the message; parsing a display name associated with the recipient message address; parsing a content of the message body; parsing an attachment name associated with an attachment field of the message; identifying the candidate name from a contact record selected from a contacts database based on a recipient-specific portion of a recipient message address of the message; and parsing user-readable content of an application from which composition of the message was triggered. The method further includes facilitating composition of a recipient name in the body of the message based on the candidate name.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for providing composition assistance in an electronic messaging application, the method comprising:
 receiving, by one or more processors, information regarding composition of an electronic message associated with the electronic messaging application, the electronic message including a set of fields; 
 determining, by the one or more processors, an external message context, wherein the external message context is associated with content of an application from which the composition of the electronic message was initiated; 
 identifying, by the one or more processors, a set of candidate textual elements based on the external message context; 
 
       selecting, by the one or more processors, a given one of the set of candidate textual elements; and
 presenting, via the messaging application, the given candidate textual element in a selected field of the set of fields of the electronic message. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein presenting the given candidate textual element in the selected field is done via automated completion of a text string. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein presenting the given candidate textual element via automated completion of the text string includes differentiating one or more characters of the text string by using at least one of a different color, text type or underlining. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying, by the one or more processors, an input textual element in a first field of the set of fields in the electronic message; 
 wherein presenting the given candidate textual element in the selected field of the set of fields of the electronic message occurs in a different field than the first field. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , further comprising determining, by the one or more processors, an internal message context in response to identifying the input textual element. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the external message context comprises a contact record of a recipient that is indirectly accessed using information from the internal message context. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the external message context includes a contacts database of a client device. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the set of candidate textual elements includes parsing content of the external message context to identify individual words or combinations or words that are predicted to represent selected words. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the set of candidate textual elements includes parsing content of the external message context and using the parsed content to perform a lookup to identify a corresponding candidate textual element. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein selecting the given one of the set of candidate textual elements includes applying one or more prioritization rules to the set of candidate textual elements. 
     
     
       11. A method for providing name composition assistance in an electronic messaging application, the method comprising:
 identifying, by one or more processors, a set of candidate names based on an external message context of the electronic message, wherein the external message context is associated with content of an application from which the composition of the electronic message was initiated, 
 selecting, by the one or more processors, a given one of the set of candidate names, and 
 automatically presenting via the messaging application the selected candidate name in a selected field of the electronic message. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 adding the selected candidate name to a temporary database; and 
 automatically presenting the selected candidate name includes presenting the selected candidate name from the temporary database in the selected field of the electronic message. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 detecting a salutation trigger based on user input; 
 wherein selecting the given candidate name is performed in response to detecting the salutation trigger. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13 , wherein:
 the salutation trigger includes an initial set of letters of a word expected to be a recipient's name; and 
 selecting the given candidate name includes evaluating priority among multiple candidate names of the set of candidate names based on a candidate name that most closely matches the initial set of letters. 
 
     
     
       15. A system to provide name composition assistance in a messaging application, the system comprising one or more processors configured to:
 receive information regarding composition of an electronic message associated with the electronic messaging application, the electronic message including a set of fields; 
 determine an external message context, wherein the external message context is associated with content of an application from which the composition of the electronic message was initiated; 
 identify a set of candidate textual elements based on the external message context; 
 select a given one of the set of candidate textual elements; and 
 present, via the messaging application, the given candidate textual element in a selected field of the set of fields of the electronic message. 
 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 15 , wherein presentation of the given candidate textual element in the selected field is done via automated completion of a text string. 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 16 , wherein presentation of the given candidate textual element via automated completion of the text string includes differentiation of one or more characters of the text string by using at least one of a different color, text type or underlining. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 identify an input textual element in a first field of the set of fields in the electronic message; 
 wherein presentation of the given candidate textual element in the selected field of the set of fields of the electronic message occurs in a different field than the first field. 
 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine an internal message context in response to identifying the input textual element. 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 15 , wherein the external message context is associated with either (i) a contact record of a recipient that is indirectly accessed using information from the internal message context, or (ii) a contacts database of a client devices. 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the association with the content of the application corresponds to a link configured for initiating the composition. 
     
     
       22. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the association with the content corresponds to a link configured for initiating the composition. 
     
     
       23. The system of  claim 15 , wherein the association with the content of the application corresponds to a link configured for initiating the composition.